Half-Real · Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds

A video game is half-real: we play by real rules while imagining a

fictional world. We win or lose the game in the real world, but we slay a dragon

(for example) only in the world of the game. In this thought-provoking study, Jesper

Juul examines the constantly evolving tension between rules and fiction in video

games. Discussing games from Pong to The Legend of Zelda, from chess to Grand Theft

Auto, he shows how video games are both a departure from and a development of

traditional non-electronic games. The book combines perspectives from such fields as

literary and film theory, computer science, psychology, economic game theory, and

game studies, to outline a theory of what video games are, how they work with the

player, how they have developed historically, and why they are fun to play.Locating

video games in a history of games that goes back to Ancient Egypt, Juul argues that

there is a basic affinity between games and computers. Just as the printing press

and the cinema have promoted and enabled new kinds of storytelling, computers work

as enablers of games, letting us play old games in new ways and allowing for new

kinds of games that would not have been possible before computers. Juul presents a

classic game model, which describes the traditional construction of games and points

to possible future developments. He examines how rules provide challenges, learning,

and enjoyment for players, and how a game cues the player into imagining its

fictional world. Juul's lively style and eclectic deployment of sources will make

Half-Real of interest to media, literature, and game scholars as well as to game

professionals and gamers.